1. Field of Invention
This present invention relates to a method and system for selecting, assigning, and creating Geofences based on using known map elements and/or point of interest (POI) data, such as parks, golf courses, schools, buildings, etc. using a plurality of user interface (UI) computing devices. Additionally, this invention combines the use of saving these Geofences on a Telecommunication Device (i.e., mobile device) that has location capability for the purpose of acting on said Geofences.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunication devices, specifically wireless telephones, are achieving widespread use today. Such telecommunication devices are commonly used to establish communication between other telecommunication devices. Recently telecommunication devices are becoming more than just communication devices, but also a computing platform for executing applications similar to the early days of the personal computer era, where devices had limited memory and processing resources. The difference is that these new telecommunication devices, while currently provide a limited computing platform, also enable wireless data access to the Internet and expose the telephone's telephony functionality. These new telecommunication devices are well known to people that are skilled in the art.
Prior art systems, such as GPS enabled mobile devices, have been used in combination with Geofences, a common term to those that are skilled in the art, that defines a virtual spatial boundary (i.e., proximity range) for the purpose of creating triggers when the mobile location enabled devices enter and/or exit said boundaries. The prior art method for defining these boundaries requires the use of a graphical user interface (UI) tool for creating a polygon shaped “box” and/or trigger lines that are used to cause events to occur based on the crossing of said lines. Another prior art method of creating Geofences requires selecting a point feature, such as a latitude and longitude, and then defining either a radius, or major/minor axis for the point feature in order to create a boundary around the point feature. This option can be offered using default values such that the user is required to enter little information, except the center location of the bounding box.
As people that are skilled in the art will agree, creating a geofence is a difficult spatial concept to represent in one's mind without the aid of a spatial map. Even then it is very difficult to fully represent due to map scales, etc. For example, a golf course might represent on a map an irregular shaped polygon which is hard to represent with a circle, rectangle, polygon, etc., and even more difficult to represent if a user has to draw the geofences using a GUI tool. Using such an irregularly shaped geofence is difficult for the user to establish in prior art methods, as well as difficult for inclusion into the mobile device, which will use the said geofences to act upon the required trigger events.
As people that are skilled in the art will appreciate, providing a means to significantly simplify this process to a “one-click” model would allow the use of implementing geofences for the inclusion into mass market devices, such as a wireless location-enabled cell phone, etc.
Until now, an adequate solution to these problems has eluded those skilled in the art. Thus, there exists a need to provide a solution that enables users to simply and easily create geofences that are based on real-world objects without the need to have to draw or model a geofence. For example, if a user would like to create a geofence for the “Bound Brook High School”, then as those skilled in the art would appreciate, a user would only have select the map element, or in this case, the point of interest (POI), to create a geofence. This invention would correlate the spatially defined and recorded information and create a geofence boundary that emulates the actual spatially defined and recorded boundary of the object. This invention provides many important benefits for location-based applications which are an important and integral part of improving work flow and/or consumer related processes.